FOUR MISSING DAUGHTERS

Today is the anniversary of Mary Jane Johnson's birthday. I knew her as Grandma Mae, she was the second wife of Phillip Lundberg. She was born on August 26, 1901 in Ada, MN. She grew up in Akeley where her dad, Martinus Goldberg Johnson was working as a lumberjack. Her mother, Ella Evanson was a homemaker.

Mary Jane adored her parents, as did my mother, Ella. Most of the pictures of mother where taken with Ella Evanson on their farm in Excel Township. Do you ever wonder just what people did for their children's birthdays around 1900?

For those of you doing genealogy, you know what a night mare it is when you have marriages followed by divorces or deaths and remarriages. How do you classify a person who is not a blood relation for historical purposes when you have known them as grandma or grandma? How far back do you try trace these roots when they aren't blood relatives? You set them up and name them as step. Because in your eyes, they are a part of the nurture, or if older, part of someones life. Such as it is with Mae and her mother and what my mother thought of them.

In a pile of unfiled newspaper clippings from a storm through microfiche, I did, indeed find an obituary for Ella Evenson Johnson. Let's look at it for the facts:

We know that in the era of the mid fifties, the women's married name was still used as the headline, in this case, Mrs. M Johnson.

Born: 3 August 1880 in Maple, Fillimore County, MN
Died: 27 May 1956 in Thief River Falls, MN
Buried: Greenwood Cemetery, Thief River Falls, MN
Married: December 12, 1894 (Yes, 14 and a little bit) in Ada, MN

Came to Excel Township in 1915, Marshall County
Moved to Town of the North in 1940, Pennington County

Children surviving:
Mrs. Phillip Lundberg, (Mae) 26 Aug 1901-16 DEC 1967
Myrtle 15 Dec 1905-14 MAR 1963
Harry 4 FEB 1909-22 DEC 1977
Edward 5 DEC 1898-23 AUG 1977
Husband

The obituary states she is preceded in death by four daughters. We know from looking at a photo of Martinus, Ella, and two boys and two girls when Mae was about 12, those for listed daughters would have to have been born before 1898.

How can we find out about them? We can trace death certificates through the Minnesota Historical Society, where we can find, Mae, Myrtle, Edward, and Harry by using the last name EVANSON to search, and pick out the ones who died in Pennington County.

If Ella was married to Martinus in 1894 and Edward was the oldest, born in 1898, then we have a few years to work with Edward. We have 1898, 1901, 1905, and 1909 so there may have been children born between but nothing is listed that makes sense for an Evanson. Let's go back to the death certificate list and look for Evanson with the county of Norman for Halstad where she may have married Johnson and Ada, also in Norman County where Mae was born. Nothing there, the records do not date back far enough.

What shall we try next? Do you think Pennington County Historical Society would have it? Based on the possible age, could one look at JOHNSON and check for youngsters? No young children buried.

What next on the search for these four daughters? We find in the 1900 census of the United States, in Norman County, MN, Martin, Ellen, and Edward are living in the household of Rakel Ostroot, who is 45. Martin is listed as the son-in-law. It lists Ellen, (Ella) as being 19 and married four years. It states she has had 5 children and one is living, who would be Edward. That makes us believe her children either died in childbirth or shortly there after. Who was Rakel Ostroot? Had she remarried and lost another husband after Evanson?

During this time, the deaths were randomly registered. The best way to follow completely through would be to go to the Norman County Courthouse and physically look through the books from 1894-1897.

Great memories of Mae and her family